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A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s30.t3: Special features

A History of Indian Medical Literature v3.c43.s30.t3

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English

Special features

v3.c43.s30.t3.1

The Gadanigraha contains in those parts which are devoted to nidāna a rather considerable number of extra verses which are not found in the Rogaviniścaya. Some of these are appended to the verses taken from Mādhava and indicated as prakārāntareṇa lakṣaṇāni, 1346 others occur at various places and describe specific syndromes. Examples of the latter category are: kāya 2.117 (pravāhikā), 5.30–32 (bhasmaka), 7.20 (hāridraka), 1347 19.160 (kaṭigraha); kaumāra 11.18–21ab (kṣīrālasaka). 1348

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Mention is made of some syndromes unknown from earlier texts, such as a pañcāhasambhava jvara (kāya 1.535–536) and ṣaḍdinodbhava jvara (1.536–537). 1349 Soḍhala incorporated the diseases called vardhma (kāya 35.11–12), snāyuka (kāya 40.41–43) and somaroga (kaumāra 1.63–68). 1350 The disorder called śleṣmapitta may have been described for the first time by Soḍhala (kāya 38.12). 1351 The terms śītalī (kāya 41. 68 and 70) and śītalikā (41.68 and 71–73), used by Soḍhala in his chapter on masūrikā, are among their earliest occurrences. 1352 Remarkable is the fact that Soḍhala regarded blood as a doṣa on the same footing as kapha and pitta, at least in an isolated instance (kāya 19.88). The terms rasendrabhoktar (vājīkaraṇa 125) and sūtasevin (vājīkaraṇa 135) tell in favour of the developed state of rasaśāstra in Soḍhala's times.

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Religious elements play a minor role in this author's therapeutics, but the mention of a rākṣasī called Dundubhī (kāya 1.556–557), to be honoured in cases of fever, should be noted, as well as the employment of the Mahāmāyūrī (bhūta 1.47).

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The plant mārkaṇḍī may well be found for the first time in the Gadanigraha (kāya 9. 46 and 33.76), 1353 as well as the substance designated by the term tavarāga (kaumāra 1. 55 and 11.121), a synonym of yavāsaśarkarā. 1354 Among the rare medicinal substances from the Sodhalanighaṇṭu only a few are prescribed in the Gadanigraha, e.g., palāśinī (kāya 32.103 and 107) and bodāraśṛṅga (śalya 8.26).

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On the other hand, the Gadanigraha mentions a number of medicinal plants which were not included in the Nighaṇṭu, e.g., āhulī (kāya 7.64), bhūmijayantī (kāya 1.557), brahmadāṇḍī (kāya 1.607), 1355 chohāra (kāya 6.34), 1356 ciñciṇī (kāya 1.220), 1357 citrāṅgī (kāya 1.644), 1358 devaḍaṅgarī (kāya 30.88), 1359 dhārādhara (kāya 1.480), 1360 erakā (kāya 39.55), 1361 ghṛtapura (kāya 35.53), 1362 girikadambaka (kaumāra 11. 107), 1363 gopālakarkaṭī (kāya 29.61), 1364 karṇamoṭa (śalya 3.63), 1365 kaṭudugdhikā (kāya 4.179), 1366 kaṭuṭṛṇa (kāya 14.80), 1367 kṛṣṇabhramarīkā (śālākya 2.83), 1368 kṛṣṇalā (kaumāra 10.7), 1369 kṣīrapotakī (kāya 22.38), 1370 māyāphala (kaumāra 9. 17), 1371 mūlakaśuṇṭha (kāya 1.406), 1372 pāñcānana (kāya 10.69), 1373 riṅgiṇī (kāya 23.82), 1374 sitakesara (kāya 23.134), 1375 uṭiṇṭa (kāya 41.68), 1376 vaidyamṛta (kāya 1.476), 1377 vallītaru (kāya 19.201), 1378 varṇojjvala (kāya 31.29), 1379 and vīrabhaṭī (bhūta 1.78). 1380 The term khapura is used as a synonym of niryāsa in jiṅgiṇikhapura (kāya 19.197). The term amlavetasa is employed in a peculiar way (rasāyana 2.5). 1381

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Soḍhala belonged, as he indicates himself, 1382 to a Rāyakavāla 1383 family of the Vatsa gotra. Besides being conversant with āyurveda, he was an expert in sāhitya, jyotiḥśāstra, and vyākaraṇa. 1384 According to some, he was the son of a physician called Svacca, according to others his father's name was Nandana. 1385 The name of his teacher is sometimes said to be Saṅghadayālu 1386 or Asoḍha. 1387 Judging from the maṅgalācaraṇa of Nāma- and Guṇasaṃgraha, he was probably a devotee of Sūrya, the sun god. 1388 Since Rāyakavāla brāhmaṇas belong to Gujarāt, it can safely be assumed that Soḍhala lived there, the more so because he uses names of drugs which are current in that region. 1389

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P.V. Sharma assumes that the author of the Soḍhalanighaṇṭu and Gadanigraha is the same as Soḍhala, son of Bhāskara, and father of the Śārṅgadeva who composed the Saṃgītaratnākara and Adhyātmaviveka. This Soḍhala, was a descendant of Vṛṣagaṇa, migrated from Kaśmīr to the South, and was an accountant-general attached to the court of the kings Bhillama (1175–1191), Jaitra (1191–1210) and Siṃhaṇa (1210–1247) of the Yādava dynasty, an office which was held by Śārṅgadeva too. The family of this Soḍhala was composed of physicians and even Śārṅgadeva himself was not only a musician and poet, but also a medical practitioner well versed in āyurveda. 1390 The Yādava king Bhīmadeva II had a copper plate inscribed in the year 1256, recording donations to the son of a Soḍhala from a Rāyakavāla brāhmaṇa family who was an expert in jyotiḥśāstra. 1391

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Certainty cannot be reached with regard to P.V. Sharma's assumption, but his reasoning does not carry conviction. 1392

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Date Internal evidence from the Gadanigraha proves that Soḍhala is posterior to Ravigupta, Mādhava (the author of the Mādhavanidāna), Vṛnda, Tiṣaṭa, Candraṭa, and Vaṅgasena. The absence from the Gadanigraha of the majority of the mercurial and other metallic preparations found in the therapeutic treatises of Cakrapāṇi and Vaṅgasena may be due to the Bengal origin of these two authors, for this type of preparation came into use in Bengal first. 1393

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The relationship between the Soḍhalanighaṇṭu and an early version of the Dhanvantarinighaṇṭu, postulated by P.V. Sharma, cannot be used for chronological purposes,

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because the hypothesis is unnecessary and vague. The same author's assumption that Soḍhala borrowed from Dalhaṇa is unacceptable. The fact that the names of new drugs borrowed from Islamic medicine occur in prescriptions of the Gadanigraha appears to prove that Soḍhala cannot be placed earlier than about A.D. 1200, a date that is in agreement with what is known about Soḍhala's sources. That Soḍhala was active during the first half of the thirteenth century and held some office at the Yādava court may be corroborated by his description of two medicinal preparations named after king Siṃhaṇa. 1394 Soḍhala's terminus ante quem cannot be determined by means of quotations in which the source is specified, but it is very likely that his works were used by many later authors. This seems beyond doubt in the case of Vopadeva, who adopted a number of verses from the Guṇasaṃgraha (1068d–1069ab; 1070–1071) in his Siddhamantraprakāśa (ad Siddhamantra 76), which is in support of placing Soḍhala in the first part of the thirteenth century. Bhāvamiśra is also an author who certainly borrowed from the Soḍhalanighaṇṭu. 1395

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According to P.V. Sharma, 1396 Soḍhala's works were also put to use by the author of the Hāritasamhitā, Keśava, Niścalakara, 1397 Śārṅgadhara, Madanapāla, and the author of the Rājanighaṇṭu; P.V. Sharma also claims that Niścalakara quotes the Soḍhalanighaṇṭu, without mentioning the name of his source. 1398 The Soḍhalanighaṇṭu may have been one of the sources for the chapters on materia medica of Ṭoḍara's Āyurvedasaukhya. 1399 The relationship between Soḍhala and the author of the Mādhavadravyaguṇa remains undetermined. 1400 The available evidence, taken together, is in favour of assigning Soḍhala to the period around 1200. 1401

Cites (11)